Pens of Note

OMAS - Ogiva Vintage (Novelli Pen Limited Edition (2012)

I was not expecting to acquire this pen, but a visit to Novelli Pen in Rome often results in the unexpected! One wall of the store is continuous show cases of pens. As I looked at the OMAS line of pens I planned to pick up the OMAS Extra Lucens Limited Edition, however, my eye caught the Ogiva Collection.

The original Ogiva pen dates to 1927. It is a pen with smooth curves and very comfortable in the hand.

In 2012, Marco of Novelli Pen, asked OMAS to create five pens specially for his store. There are thirty pens of each colour: Wild, Scarlet Red, Autumn, Black Lucens and Green Arco. The Ogiva Novelli Limited Edition pens have rose gold plate trim, and an 18 Kt rose gold nib. I had a major debate as to which pen to select. I liked the Scarlet Red and the Autumn. The Wild celluloid pattern is a favorite of mine and since I have that celluloid in the Arte Italiana line I thought I would select something different.

In the end, I took the pens out on the street and held them in my hand and watched the sun light activate the deep colours of the celluloid body and caps. The Scarlet Red was the pen that moved me the most. Although I must admit to this day I regret not getting the green pen, in addition of course!

Not only are there shades of red tones in the body, but there are dark black lines are various angles that all come together to give the pen a very distinctive look. The rose gold tone trim and nib look especialy good with the red tones of the fountain pen body and cap.

The pens have the classic OMAS clip with a small roller ball at the end. Just above the nib section the number of the pen is engraved. The pen is a piston fill fountain pen. The filling mechanism pulls up a good 1.5 ml of ink. I have pen 2/30.

The nib is 18 kt gold, and the ink feed is ebonite. This all creates a very smooth writing experience. I had a hard time deciding on taking the Double Broad or the Broad. In the end the Broad was one that seemed to work best for me. I practiced writing in Italian, with the assistance of Derick: Noi siamo da Novelli a Roma.

Best of all, when my wife Karen wrote with the pen she gave it the endorsement of Karen.

The regular OMAS Limited Edition Ogiva have a production run of 527 pens, and come in Green Saft and Arco Brown in celluloid, and a transparent blue and green in cotton resin.

The only aspect of the pen that I do not like is the difficult to post the cap on the body it requires a slight twist, and for me, this will be important as the pen is very smooth and round. I don't want to see this pen roll of my desk!